Need Freight Ship Plans

[DSchmitt]

Correct Smithsonian Institute link


http://www.americanhistory.si.edu/csr/shipplan.htm

[jrbarney]

Dan,
If you're still looking for plans for a Liberty Ship or Attack Transport, you may want to visit Maryland Silver's Web site. The URL is:
<http://www.marylandsilver.com/stuff.htm>
They list 11" by 17" format $ 60 plan books, one for the C2-S-C1 Liberty Ship class and one for the C3-S-A2 Attack Transports. Maybe you could cobble the Sylvan Scale kit using these prints.
Also, the Smithsonian Institute has modern ship plans. Their URL is:
<http://americanhistory.si.edu/csu/shipplan.htm>
Bob

[sparkingbolt]

Exellent points, all of them.

I looked up Liberty Ships on the 'net and they would be perfect. Since they were welded,(no rivets) I could use styrene easily enough, but i'd rather use a kit, if available. The hull I foresee being a bear to scratchbuild. I am modelling a 50's-'60s seaport layout, the ship itself could be anything in use at that time, not neccessarily built then.

Paper ships would be a great pattern to model off of, too if I go that route. I never knew they existed.

And I found that the hobby shop Dromedary still does exist, in El Paso, Texas. No website, but Phone number is 915-584-2445.

I thank you all for the info, Dan

[DSchmitt]

There are many paper model kits of cargo ships available . They are usually around 1/250 scale, but could be used as plans and a guide in construction.

The link below is to a company in Oregon that I have purchased some kits from. It has a link to an on-line catalog

http://www.expresspages.com/p/papermodels/

[dharmon]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dharmon

rda has some good points. The 50-60s and sixties were not particular dynamic times for ship building with the number of surplus Liberty ships available. And those that weren't did not look terribly different. It wasn't until the late sixties and early seventies when container traffic took off did ship design and construction change and like the railroads, ships started to move from general freight to speicific material haulers...containers, oil, bulk (grain, minerals), LPG...The 50-60s stilll had a fair number of general merchants. I would probably try to find dsome photos of the Liberty type ( center superstructure and holds fore and aft) and then scale it to fit the space. You could even try using walthers ore carrier as the starting point for the hull form and bash it for there.

Another option is to use a barge. You can make several smaller barges and add a tug to the scene, even a car barge.

I forgot to add the links...
http://www.armed-guard.com/
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Campus/3415/t2tanker.html
http://www.lanevictoryship.com/

[dharmon]

rda has some good points. The 50-60s and sixties were not particular dynamic times for ship building with the number of surplus Liberty ships available. And those that weren't did not look terribly different. It wasn't until the late sixties and early seventies when container traffic took off did ship design and construction change and like the railroads, ships started to move from general freight to speicific material haulers...containers, oil, bulk (grain, minerals), LPG...The 50-60s stilll had a fair number of general merchants. I would probably try to find dsome photos of the Liberty type ( center superstructure and holds fore and aft) and then scale it to fit the space. You could even try using walthers ore carrier as the starting point for the hull form and bash it for there.

Another option is to use a barge. You can make several smaller barges and add a tug to the scene, even a car barge.

[jrbarney]

Sparkingbolt,
You might want to try the Maine Maritime Museum. Their URL is:
<http://www.bathmaine.com>
They have photos and blueprints for many of the ships built at the Bath Iron Works. Since much of their archival research is done by volunteers, you might encounter some slight delays on responses. They do of course charge for copies of the prints and for shipping. You may have to take the copies to a print shop for reduction to HO scale.
Where are you going to find HO scale steel plates, or do you plan to use styrene ? [:)]
Bob

[sparkingbolt]

Thanks, guys, I'll look into these, and any other info that may come in. And yes, I should have mentioned HO. Dan.

[Anonymous]

You could try your local or regional Maritime Mueseum. I know of some modellers that have been able to get blueprints from the Mueseum in Halifax.

You might try Great Hobbies at www.greathobbies.ca

There use to be a Ship Model shop in Texas called the Dromedary, I dion'tknow if they still exist but at one time they had EVERYTHING!

Ship Construction text books are also a good resource.

I was able to get a hulk of the SS American Scout 1:100 scale which measured about 36 inches. because it is a basic kit there would be no problem rescaling it.

Have you tried keying in "Liberty Ship" into the search engine?

Good Luck

[Anonymous]

Dan:

I'm assuming you want HO size models or nearly so? It helps if you specify. Try a Google search with the field "HO ship model"

From the size you specify and the 1950s era what you likely want are ex-Liberty ship sized models. These were designed to what were the C3 and C4 US Maritime Commission standard and literally built in thousands. They were steam ships but the difference in appearence from a diesel powered ship are slight.

Models in 1/96 are available of the SS Hudson Gate, model length 54" and the SS Hudson River, a collier (a coal freighter) length 39". Sylvan Scale Models makes an HO scale Great Lakes freighter, length 36".

Also you might be interested in a book, Railroading Along the Waterfront, Waltres used to carry it at a list $49.95.

For more detailed plans you might visit the Sailors Union of the Pacific website www.sailors.org/

I hopefully you will find this useful.

Good luck

Randy

[sparkingbolt]

I would like to build a '50s-'60s waterline steel deisel freight ship, about a 350 footer. I can find all kinds of links to military ships, but not any work-a-day freighters. does anyone know of any reasonable starting point kits, or at least a source for drawings? It would be around 3 1/2 to 4 feet long. Thanks, Dan